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Elyden map

Hi all, I've been a lurker round here for some years now and come back here every so often to look at the gorgeous Cartographers' choice maps and some great tutorials (yes, I too took my first stumbling steps in photoshop under the aegis of the Saederan tutorial - now im a certified ACE in PS5 ), though thought its about time i posted one of my own maps on here.

Im primarily a worldbuilder and the maps i make are mostly intended for my own use, though over the past mopnths I've come to enjoy making the maps almost as much as writing the background and history for my world. This is an old map (version 3.0, I'd say) of the main continents of my world, Elyden. Im currently working on the latest iteration which is somewhat larger - at 300 dpi and 4' x 6', it's a beast, though my goal is to print it out and hang on the wall of my geeky den so i can look at it witha glass of cold cider in one hand and feel proud :p.

This is a low-res jpeg of the original map which has many layers in psd format. The new version of the map has changed somewhat (changing rhumb lines for lat/long for a start, and changing the border for something more classiacal, as well as changing the scale to concentrate more on the main sea (the Inner Sea, to anyone interested) and if anyone wants to see a snippet of the newer WIP version i can post a pic, though it'll be a long time until i complete it as im writing nation histroies as i go along, and am about 1/3 done after about 6-months of work. The mountains are just individual hill brushes (i have about 20 in all) which i choose one at a time, though once the main map is done ill draw over them manually with my wacom.

Please give C&C as ive been working along for most of this time and outside opinions would be much appreceated,

thanks

EDIT: i managed to upload a higher res version of the new map as well as a cropped version of the one above (minus grunge), centered around an area I call the arid Triptych

Would needs to see a higher res version to give a fair critique, but initially at this scale, the map is nicely done.... I would suggest saving a copy of the map, merge all the layers, and then scale down to around umm... 3000px wide.. then save a copy to jpeg at perhaps 85% resolution and it should easily come in under the site's file size upload limits.

I completely agree with Jfraz, this map is a tease! All of the detail you've invested into the map tempts me to look closer, but I can't! Please upload a larger res image so that we can see your map in all of its detailed glory. Oh, and enjoy some rep for a job well done.

Yep, this looks really good and is one of those that gets under my skin because I really want to zoom in so yeah, if you can export a .jpg of this puppy at a bit higher rez so we can sink our teeth in, I for one would really like that.

Wonderful looking map and here comes some rep your way as well.

“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden

This map is absolutely fantastic. Love the feel, the design, and the complicated simplicity. Bravo man, took my breath away

thanks

Originally Posted by jfrazierjr

Would needs to see a higher res version to give a fair critique, but initially at this scale, the map is nicely done.... I would suggest saving a copy of the map, merge all the layers, and then scale down to around umm... 3000px wide.. then save a copy to jpeg at perhaps 85% resolution and it should easily come in under the site's file size upload limits.

the attached pic is actually 40 mb, though im guessing the site resizes it when its attached. I'll try resize and add another copy, though the original is so big itll likely lose a lot of detail...

The paper texture is a little heavy, perhaps... and - personal antipathy incomming - I absolutely hate the font you chose. Also, at several labels you went overboard with curving text, which makes it extremely difficult to read.

Now that this is said: it's a stunning map! The detail and execution of the lands makes me want to dive right into it and explore.

nice big res pic... I have to agree with Freodin.... tone down the paper texture... sometimes less is more... On the other hand, I am fine with your font in "most" places. The curvy text has GOT to go IMHO... And it's just not readable in the cartouche(but then again I DO realize that a) this is smaller than print size so it might be ok, and b) the texture fix mentioned before could help improve the readability.) Personally, I would like to see the non map elements (borders, cartouche, etc) lines grunged up or changed to match the actual land outlines color. As is, there are a few places where they are but too sharp and crisp when compared to the actual map itself.

EDIT: forgot to mention this in original reply. This is already very good and has the potential to be a stunning blockbuster once a few small tweaks are done....

This is a great map! I agree with jfrazierjr on the grunging of some of the ink. It could use a little crackling/bleeding. The only other thing I would add is that the font doesn't match the swashes. It's a very blocky squarish font, and then you have curvy swashes going on all around it. I'd either make the decorations more squarish, or the font more roundish. Personally I find the font very difficult to read, so I'd vote for changing the font rather than the swashes.

As others have said, I want to reiterate that it's already fantastic. If it seems like we're nitpicking, we are ... because this could be REALLY awesome.